My son has become a chokora, can no longer speak German, Ngirita cries in court over frozen funds

The agony that the Ngirita family — the main suspects in the NYS scandal — are undergoing came in full view on Monday, as one of them painfully lamented over the freezing of their assets.

Phyllis Njeri Ngirita claimed her son who is in Class Seven and was fluent in German has been reduced to a ‘chokora’ (street kid), and can now only speak in Kikuyu, Swahili or English.

“Miaka mbili tumeteseka. Mtoto aliacha shule, anaelekea kuwa chokora… Wamekataa kabisa kufungua hiyo account. So mtoto ata hawezi ongea Kijerumani, anaongea Kikuyu na Kiswahili ama Kizungu,” said Phyllis as she broke into tears outside the courtroom.

She went further to narrate her desperation, saying she has been forced to rely on matatus as her car was seized and is “rotting at the Naivasha Police Station.”

“Sai nitatoka hapa na huyu mtoto twende nyumbani na matatu… gari yangu inaozea police station na nilinunua na malipo ya pole pole,” she said.

Phyllis claims her family has been unfairly targeted in the NYS scandal trial, adding that other key suspects are walking free.

“Hii ni maisha gani tunapitia… Ukienda Naivasha Police Station, gari zetu zimeekwa hapo kama decoration. Wame exaggerate wanasema ati nyumba zote Naivasha ni zetu. Wanasema tuliiba Ksh.9 billion. Iko wapi hiyo pesa?” posed Phyllis as she burst into a loud cry.

Assets worth millions of shillings belonging to the Ngiritas were frozen and seized by the State in 2018 after they were implicated in the NYS scandal.

According to the prosecution, the Ngiritas —  Ann Ngirita, Phylis Njeri Ngirita, Lucy Wambui Ngirita and Jeremiah Gichina Ngirita — received more than Ksh.400 million from the NYS without supplying any goods or services.

Last year, Phyllis Njeri Ngirita filed an application in court seeking to be allowed to withdraw money, arguing that her son had school fees arrears amounting to Ksh.3.4 million.